Our research interests focus on the identification of genetic risk factors underlying epilepsies. Only a small proportion of the heritability can be attributed to known Mendelian (monogenic) disorders. The vast majority of the heritability is still unknown and thought to be caused by either common or rare genetic variants with smaller effect sizes. The ultimate goal will be to identify these risk factors and to understand the complex genetic architecture of common epilepsies. To achieve this goal we genotype and sequence candidate genes or whole genomes/exomes of patients with epilepsies.

Techniques:

State of the art genotyping (various techniques including SNP-arrays), conventional Sanger sequencing as well as next generation sequencing methods. A large part of the work includes recruiting and clinically characterizing patients.